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New Research Shows Opioid Use On The Rise

A new survey from the National Institute on Drug Abuse reveals in 2015 more than a third of American adults took a prescription painkiller. (Published Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017)

Nashville Mayor Megan Barry was asleep at 3 a.m. on July 30 when police knocked on her door to deliver news that her only child, her son Max, had died hours earlier of a suspected overdose, Barry told NBC News Wednesday.

Autopsy reports indicate, Barry explained, that the 22-year-old had a combination of drugs in his system, including Xanax, cocaine, and the opioids methadone and hydromorphone.

Barry returned to work for the first time on Monday, and she has decided to take her story public.

In Nashville last year, there were 245 deadly overdoses involving opioids, the mayor’s office said. That’s a 120 percent jump from the year before.